1 Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a galvano-magneto-thermal effect asynchronous generator.
2 Descripton of the Related Art
Here this involves producing a generator using the thermoelectric properties of certain materials. Such a generator is connected both to a hot source and to a cold source. It may then operate either as a heat pump, or as an electric generator. In the first case, the generator takes energy from the cold source to deliver it to the hot source. In the second case, an energy transfer is made from the hot source to the cold source with production of electrical energy.
Document EP-0 644 599 describes a thermoelectric generator device producing electrical energy from thermal energy using the Nernst effect. The described device comprises a conversion element made from a material having thermoelectric properties, magnetic field generating means, and means for heating and cooling so as to create a temperature gradient perpendicular to the magnetic field. The element having thermoelectric properties is split and each edge of the split comprises an electrode. A difference in potential appears between these two electrodes in the presence of the magnetic field and the temperature gradient. The drawback of such a device is that the difference in potential between two electrodes is at best of the order of one Volt. Several elements must therefore be coupled together to obtain higher voltages. The power provided by such a device is furthermore relatively low. Due to this the energy yield is also very low.